


A Guardian Angel

by A_Common_Cookie



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Major Character Injury, Mild Blood, Multi, Panic Attacks, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:55:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23801947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Common_Cookie/pseuds/A_Common_Cookie
Summary: Annette is overcome by a sudden premonition of her own demise, leading to more heartache in the ranks of the Blue Lions than she could have ever expected.
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic & Mercedes von Martritz, Annette Fantine Dominic/Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Ingrid Brandl Galatea & Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 3
Kudos: 31





	1. Chapter 1

The long silence that had fallen over the camp, one of apprehension and nerves for the coming day, was broken by a typically loud sigh from Sylvain as he allowed his head to roll backwards in exasperation and stared up at the tree canopy above the group. All eyes fell upon the young man, with various sentiments ranging from understanding to sheer irritation. Ingrid was quick to signify which side of that divide she fell on, her brow furrowed as she pinched the bridge of her nose.  
"Two hours. You couldn't even last two hours without clearly succumbing to boredom." She lamented quietly and to nobody in particular as she shook her head.  
"Oh come on, Ingrid, there's no way this isn't just as frustrating for you as it is for me." Sylvain rather lazily allowed his posture to sag forwards, shooting his friend his best pitiful pout as he continued to whine. "We're going to be knights! Long stake-outs aren't exactly our forte, right? You want to hone your skills in a skirmish with some thieves as much as I do." He mocked a combat stance as he spoke, playfully jabbing Ingrid in the arm, who just looked at the point of his impact with sheer apathy.

The task had been simple enough. Seteth was concerned by reports from scouts that looters and thieves were seemingly moving through camps previously occupied by troops of the Western Church near the lands of Imperial House Arundel. Skirmishes between the Church of Seiros and the heretics had pushed them further back into their own territory, but if their camps were being investigated by a third party had something of worth truly been left behind? 

So it was that the Blue Lions had been given their duty to investigate one such camp under the watchful eye of Shamir and a group of scouts from Garreg Mach, scouting out one last location that was seemingly untouched. Their usual teacher Hanneman was receiving help from Professor Byleth in a rather rare moment of cooperation for the houses. It had only been a few hours, but that was more than enough time for the boredom of the situation to really set in for poor Sylvain.

Ingrid shook her head as she focused her attention back on the treeline.  
"Take this seriously, Sylvain, we have no idea who exactly we're going to be facing in a place like this." She gestured vaguely over to their supplies, "Polish your weapons if you're that bored, Profession Hanneman and Professor Byleth should be back from her talk with Shamir any moment now and they'll have something you can do."  
"... And how about you, Annette? Don't you think this whole ordeal could be managed so much more gracefully and how we could be spared these pointless hours?" Ingrid felt a twinge of frustration at Sylvain's immediate disregard to her advice as he turned to speak with Annette, taking a long breath out and removing herself from the conversation entirely.

Annette flinched at the mention of her name, her eyes shooting from the shaded treeline of the forest and over to Sylvain. What had he been talking about? Annette really wasn't paying attention, something about this place had her on edge. It was becoming clear to see that the longer she sat in this clearing, the more stress was placed upon her shoulders. Sylvain had said something about hours... he must have asked how many hours had it been?  
"Oh, um. Maybe three hours?" Annette mumbled half-heartedly, turning her gaze back to the trees after never truly having caught Sylvain's line of sight. It certainly didn't entirely pass his notice as he narrowed his eyes in thought. Something about the whole idea of a stake-out, sitting here and almost acting as bait for a party they had such precious few pieces of information on, made Annette incredibly nervous.

Felix couldn't suppress a slight snort of a laugh as Sylvain sat back in confusion at Annette's reply and demeanour as another voice entered the conversation, its owners hand landing on Sylvain's shoulder and provoking a substantial flinch from the red head. Felix turned to ensure that nobody noticed the smirk on his face at Sylvain's comeuppance arriving so swiftly, even if it had to come in the form of the Boar Prince.

"Come now, Sylvain." Dimitri chuckled. He had just returned from scouting the perimeter alongside Dedue, just to arrive at the right time to catch the tail end of Sylvain's boredom. "Complain any louder and half of the forest will hear you. I bet Shamir could probably get a good hit on you while blindfolded just from the sound of your babbling. Professor Hanneman urged our continued vigilance and that's exactly what we'll be doing."  
Sylvain adjusted his officer's uniform as he shot the shielded face of Felix a playful icy stare before turning back to the prince, shifting over to give Dedue and Dimitri more space to sit with the group at camp.  
"Alright, you've got me there. Just tell me which four trees I should be paying attention to and I promise, I'll let you know if they move an inch, knight's honour."

Mercedes and Ashe meanwhile exchanged slightly concerned glances before shuffling closer to Annette. She was usually the bubbly, chirpy soul of the group, they all knew that. It was probably thanks to her slightly more dour and jumpy mood than usual that the group was so awkwardly quiet, even at a time like this.  
"Annie?" Mercedes leaned in a little closer to her friend with a look of concern. "Are you feeling alright? We must have some kind of vulnerary in our spare supplies if you're injured or you're feeling unwell or..." It almost seemed like she wasn't listening again. Mercedes' eyes fell to Annette's lap, where the girl's hands continued to fidget and squirm, nails looking as though they were digging uncomfortably, almost painfully, into the backs of her hands with each motion. Annette's eyes remained locked on the treeline, pupils clearly flicking back and forth at any slight movement. Even her breathing was erratic, certainly abnormal.

"Annie?"  
Annette jumped as she felt someone take hold of her hands, her entire body flinching as her head darted to the side, breathing ragged, finally meeting Mercedes' gaze and the concerned look of Ashe, who seemed to be rooting through his supplies for medicine as per the older woman's suggestion.  
"You're... shaking." Mercedes whispered, gripping her friend's trembling hands tighter as her brow knitted, searching for some indication of the issue on the girl's face, clearly more pale than usual. "Annie if there's something wrong, please tell me. I'd hate for you to be suffering in silence."  
For a few moment's Annette's mouth hung feebly open, unable to manifest any cohesive thought. Mercedes tried her best to maintain a supportive smile, but Annette's eventual admission brought a look of severe concern to her face.  
"Mercie... This sounds so stupid but I'm sure I'm supposed to die here... I..."  
The words choked Annette, her lip trembling and nothing more than a weak sob escaping as Mercedes pulled Annette's head into a hug against her own shoulder.  
"Annie that's... such a horrible thought. What could possibly have you thinking like that?" It was hard to maintain her usual motherly style when confronted with such a stressful sight. Annette really sounded like she believed the words she had spoken. Mercedes' tone swiftly became a lot more sharp than usual, born from genuine concern and confusion, eyes wide as she turned to Ashe in the hopes that he had any insight at all. The boy looked almost as pale as Annette did, shaking his head as they both looked back to the quivering mage.

"Annie, what's going on?" Mercedes fretted, leaning in close, "Why do you think you're..." She swallowed, unable to form the thought. "Why do you think that's going to happen?"  
Annette took a deep, trembling breath, made far more difficult by her panic. She looked up into her old friend's eyes and tried to recount as best she could.  
"I've. I've seen this before. These woods. This camp." She shook her head. "I'm going to sound crazy, Mercie, but do you believe in... prophecies? Visions from the goddess? I just don't know what to call it."  
Ashe furrowed his brow and rested his chin in his hands, clearly deep in thought.  
"A vision from the goddess... and for it to be something so grim? Is that truly something that could happen?" He mused, looking up at Mercedes with concern. She certainly had her own worries about the whole idea, but tried to ignore them for Annette's sake, looking back to the girl as she continued.

"It feels like déjà vu, just the most extreme case I've ever had in my life." She let out a soft exhale of a laugh as she spoke, her head resting against Mercedes' shoulder. "I know how... crazy it sounds. I'm sorry I really shouldn't be bothering you with any of this, please, the professors will want everything done right for a mission directly from Seteth, please don't worry about me, Mercie, Ashe, thank you." Annette tried to deflect the concern, but found herself unable to pull away as Mercedes continued to hold her into a hug, shushing her quietly and nuzzling against her hair. The two remained there for a few moments as Annette let out another weak sob and Mercedes tried her best to regain composure.  
"Tell me everything, Annie. This could be important." She felt Annette nod, her head still resting, body still trembling in fear.

"I felt it like it really happened to me. I... still feel it." A hand gripped Mercedes' own tightly, which the woman squeezed in return.  
"A mage. Someone far stronger than me, than both of us. They cast a spell, a bolt of some kind of darkness pierces me right in the heart." The next few words are lost to the return of her ragged breaths, before she manages to force them through. "I wish it ended there, Mercie, but it... I... I feel myself burn up. From the inside out. It..."  
Annette pulled Mercedes tighter, shaking her head vigorously. She was almost trying to deny what she felt, a sensation and fear her mind was conjuring up in such visceral detail that it couldn't be ignored. Far more akin to a recent memory than a dream. Mercedes heart beat wildly in her chest, she wanted to dismiss this as a nightmare, a conjuration of some little bead of her friend's doubts but something about it felt... Plausible. Familiar, almost. The same sensation of a nagging déjà vu weighing heavily on her.

"I see you reach out and scream and I..." The last of her breath gives way to ragged sobs. "It hurts so much, Mercie. Every inch of me. I try to scream as my own blood boils inside me and I can't. I can't scream. I can't breathe. You can't help me. You look so scared."  
Mercedes was stunned to silence by Annette's account. It was so rare to see her worked up like this, completely unbelievable even. Her own stupor was broken as the smaller girl began to become more erratic, trying to shield her head in her arms. Her constant movement was pushing back against Mercedes' embrace, struggling wildly as she talked herself into a corner, starting to stammer more loudly, her sobs becoming gasps for air as her entire body is wracked from the onset of her rising panic.  
"Annie?" Mercedes tried her best to grasp at Annette's shoulders, to hold her still and keep her safe, but even the normally calm and motherly demeanour of Mercedes wasn't impenetrable as panic began to seep into her voice too. "Annie, look at me, please."

There had already been some suspicions that something was awry from the rest of the group. Felix had shot the pair a concerned glance, keeping a more worried eye on Annette's movements than he was willing to admit. Something about her distress pulled at his chest, apprehension beginning to far exceed what he would have expected for a fight with some thieves.  
Dimitri too had furrowed his brow as Mercedes pulled her comrade closer. Independently, both men rose to their feet as her condition began to worsen, only to be interrupted by the sudden bellow of a horn. A signal to attack.

Dimitri's eyes darted to the slight incline in the forest growth, seeing multiple troops in the colours of the western church, swords drawn, carving a path toward their camp.

"Ambush!" Dimitri called to the Blue Lions, reaching for his lance and rushing toward the first wave of attackers. "Hold until the Professors arrive! Hold positions!" Felix drew his sword and moved after the prince, determined not to be outdone. Ingrid and Sylvain readied their weapons, taking up a defensive position around the camp as they looked for any further attackers alongside Dedue, quickly finding more soldiers to be dealt with. 

Ashe drew his bow, standing over Mercedes and Annette. He fired some shots toward advancing troops, many of his arrows finding their mark. The Blue Lions were no pushovers, but it didn't mean they were invincible. He watched as a particularly lucky sword swing glanced off of Ingrid's polearm and bit into her arm. Crying out in pain and determination she returned the blow, slicing painfully into the soldier's leg as he collapsed in a screaming heap, his cries quickly fading. She was alright, but the attack had clearly taken its toll.  
Sylvain too was starting to become overwhelmed, avoiding injury but at the cost of far too few blows being delivered from his weapon. Slowly but surely the enemy pushed toward the camp.  
"Mercedes! Ingrid and Sylvain needs you." Ashe called out, almost apologetically. "You need to help them. I'll watch Annette."

Voices rang out over the battlefield, it sounded like the Professors. A warning of reinforcements lost mostly to the wind as the Blue Lions fought on. 

The girl was still locked up in a fetal position, arms squeezed tightly around her head as she continued to tremble beneath the healer's touch. Mercedes hesitated, her impulse to stand and deliver aid to the combatants hindered by her fear for Annette, but she knew what she had to do to keep the group alive.  
"I'm counting on you Ashe."  
Leaning down, she gave Annette a kiss on the head and as swift a hug as she could manage before turning to rush to the aid of their classmates, readying her tomes and curative supplies.

Ashe pulled closer to Annette, the girl starting to rise to her knees as the sounds of battle grew more intense.  
"Annette, don't push yourself but you've got to stay close, alright?" Ashe offered his support readily, allowing Annette to pull herself to her feet. As soon as she was steady Ashe fired another arrow, intercepting a troop before they reached Dimitri and Felix.

Another cry could be heard from behind the Blue Lions, as Ashe and Annette turned to face their undefended flank. Hanneman and Byleth were racing back through the forest, Byleth clearly rushing ahead to return to the group. Their sword flashed as it swung into a bush nearby, Ashe could only see the gesture as a meaningless waste of energy, until a body slumped over from it's hiding place. His eyes went wide. How did Byleth know there was someone there? Was she some kind of combat prophet? Multiple combatants fell to her blade as she carved a path toward the students supported by Hanneman's magic, her poise and foresight a miracle to behold.

Hanneman's words echoed fully over the battlefield for the first time.  
"Blue Lions, there are two enemies on two fronts! Defend yourselves!"

Knowing that they had been discovered the second group, the so-called-thieves picking over the bones of the Western Church's camps, emerged from numerous hiding spots in the forest undergrowth to avoid Byleth's wrath.  
Felix toppled another foe with his sword, turning at once to the source of the shouting and seeing the adversaries emerging behind them. He cursed and turned to fight back through the melee towards the Blue Lion's back line. 

Ashe knew he and Annette were in trouble here. The enemy must have drawn close as the Western Church squadron came across them, leaving the mage and the archer at risk. 

A few of the 'thieves', dressed in robes and cloaks more than leather armour cast spells down toward Dedue, Ingrid and Sylvain, putting them under more pressure and blocking Felix's approach through the barrage of magical fire as he swore even louder. 

Ashe put himself as best he could between the enemy and Annette, as bowmen moved into position and began to fire. The boy took two arrows from the initial barrage, the breath forced out of him with each sharp punch of an impact. The strain took him down to his knees almost immediately as Annette called out his name, fumbling through his supplies with uselessly shaky hands to fetch some kind of curative.

She cursed herself quietly, upset at her own blinding fear, feeling like such a burden to the team as the fight continued. The adrenaline was starting to take over, her mind just a little more focused on the battle at hand, but not enough to be fully aware of her peripheral vision. 

Byleth's cry echoed across the field, a verbal warning that Annette was too caught up to register. Felix reacted at once, darting through the skirmish as per the professor's instruction.  
She looked up, assessing the immediate risk to herself and Ashe when she saw it. Her chest pulled tight again, colour draining completely from her face as she saw the dark mage on the front line. It's masked face looked for an appropriate target, slowly and purposefully scanning the battlefield before locking eyes with Annette. Blood running cold, the girl tried to rise to her feet, but she couldn't muster the strength. For the first time she was truly frozen in fear.  
"Run, Annette," Ashe spluttered, groaning as he too tried to muster his strength. "Just get out of here!"

Byleth cried out again, catching the attention of Mercedes. She turned to see the dark mage readying a spell, a bolt of dark energy coalescing in their palm. Her eyes went wide. It couldn't be. How could it all be so sudden? So accurate? Mercedes screamed to Annette to move, the desperation tearing at her throat as she scrambled to run to her best friend.

The mage released their hold of the bolt of energy, streaking toward the terrified mage. She screwed her eyes shut. The voices screaming and crying out over the battlefield were all that filled her senses. How had she been so stupid. So afraid of her own death that she left herself unable to avoid it. In that moment, she truly believed that she deserved it, that Mercie and the others would be better off without someone as useless as her. This was exactly what she remembered, and she was terrified.  
As the tears streamed down her cheeks and the bolt drew ever closer to it's mark, that was when something entirely unexpected happened. 

A sharp and sudden pain, an impact, resonated through her from her right shoulder as she was sent tumbling to the ground. Her face collided with the packed dirt of the forest floor, dazing her. Her mind was racing. This wasn't what she'd seen at all.  
The sound of the magic's impact was still clear as day, but she didn't feel anything.  
The burning, the immeasurable pain, Mercie's screaming. Those things were all absent, in fact it felt like a stunned silence was beginning to take the battlefield.

Annette tried to steady her swimming vision, the impact clearly from someone far more forceful than she was used to dealing with as she looked to where she had been crouched. 

There, mouth agape, a smouldering wound having ripped across his chest was Felix. Annette looked into his eyes with terror, she was meant to be the one who took the impact, she was meant to die, not Felix. She searched for anger, for disappointment in the boy's eyes. She couldn't find it. Felix looked to her softly, a genuine smile in his eyes as he slumped forward, face down in the dirt and his own blood.

Annette screamed. A fresh flood of emotion tearing through her. Despair, anguish, hatred. Even with the tears streaming down her face she launched herself towards the dark mage, firing a spell of her own, a barrage of wind based slashes, that incapacitated the target long enough for Byleth to finish their approach and deal the killing blow.

An uneasy silence fell over the Blue Lions as Mercedes rushed to Felix's side with Dedue, trying her best to stabilise him with the supplies she had remaining. 

The rest of the group approached slowly, Sylvain looking desperate and trying to pull forward even faster, his movements toward his friend slowed by a very solemn looking Ingrid. Dedue carefully moved Felix onto his back, the rather horrifying looking wound on full display. 

Annette stumbled toward the healer and the swordsman and fell to her knees. She couldn't speak, her throat felt so wracked with pain that it hurt to even breathe. Wordlessly she brushed some of the strands of hair from Felix's face. Why did he have to suffer this instead? It should have been her. Why did he pay for her mistakes? 

"Annie? Listen to me." Mercedes grabbed the girl by the cheeks, firmly turning Annette to look into her eyes. "He's alive." Mercedes was certainly not smiling or happy, but there was a clear relief on her face.

Hanneman began to direct the Blue Lions to gather their supplies, that the mission was being abandoned and that they needed to return to the monastery as quickly as possible. Dedue moved to help Ashe, who thanked the larger man with a sincere nod. Ingrid allowed Sylvain to get closer now that Felix was somewhat safe, receiving an affirming, supportive nod from Dimitri who helped her to gather the party's things.  
Annette felt a supportive hand on her shoulder, turning to see Byleth smiling weakly over her shoulder. The professor guided her away from Mercedes to allow the healer to work.

Leaving Annette with the Hanneman a few moments later, moving away to appear to be inspecting the bodies of their enemies Byleth let out a sigh, cupping her head in her hands.  
The experience of that battle wasn't something she had wanted to repeat, it had all seemed so hopeless when the dark mage ambushed the students. The sight of Annette's death had been stressful, but what had caused with a shift in her behaviour this time around?  
The voice within her lent it's support, sensing her trepidation.  
"Calm yourself, through my power you saved a life. I'm sure the boy will pull through, but you must keep a watchful eye on him too." Sothis sighed. "Find relief in knowing that if you had not been here, Annette would surely have perished. This was the best outcome."  
Byleth knew that it was true, and she didn't know how many more times Sothis could turn back the clock, nobody had died and that was all she could ask for.

A short time later the Blue Lions began their wordless march back to Garreg Mach, leaving Shamir's group to finish the job of finding their enemy's origin, and the circumstances of how the group had been caught in the middle of a skirmish.

As much as nobody wanted to admit it, all eyes were on Annette, but nobody despised her for her failure as much as she did.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a standard day within the monastery grounds, Caspar had once again overexerted himself by training with a few of the more experienced guards, Leonie and Raphael had somehow talked each other into some kind of eating contest from which they were now recovering in their rooms.  
Manuela sighed as she flopped back into her chair, finally returning to the book she had been reading in the infirmary. Part of her was glad that so many calls for her attention were trivial, but couldn't the students sort most of these issues out themselves? There were enough who were more than capable healers. Well, if Linhardt was even awake to see the incidents there might have been.

She could hear the formation of some kind of ruckus in the courtyard, to which she initially shook her head and committed to her reading. When the noise did little but escalate, however, she eyed the window with a curious gaze. She rose to her feet and tried to get a look outside, only for her attention to be drawn to heavy footfalls in the hall outside the infirmary. Four guardsmen rushed past, and she only managed to glean a snippet of their conversation.  
"... They said it's Duke Fraldarius' son. Quickly, get..."  
She moved swiftly to the door, confusion beginning to well to the surface as the guards moved quickly out of earshot. 

"Professor Manuela!"  
She turned toward the familiar and regimental tone of Seteth, his face starting to lose his trademark composure, he even looked as though he'd arrived running at some speed... what exactly was going on?  
"Prepare the infirmary for a patient at once, I must speak with Lady Rhea and keep her abreast of the situation. All classes are cancelled for the day, so please devote your full attention to this case. Notify me of any changes at once."  
"But, Seteth, what's happening, who's the patient?" Manuela questioned, the number of people starting to move down to the courtyard was certainly notable.  
As quickly as Seteth had arrived he had already turned to rush off toward Lady Rhea's audience chamber, leaving Manuela to do as was requested of her.

Manuela tried to swallow the lump in her throat as she prepared a bed, most of the work was already done and the infirmary was kept in a far better condition than her own quarters, as she brought a pail of clean water and bandages, pulling curatives and tonics from the shelves. Duke Fraldarius' son. Felix? The duke had already lost a son, hadn't he? Surely the family couldn't be cursed by such horror for their entire lineage. The sound of the ruckus was drawing ever closer, and she almost jumped out of her skin as the door was awkwardly kicked open by an armoured boot. She opened her mouth to chide the culprit, but the will to do so faded quickly as she surveyed the scene in the doorway.

Felix Hugo Fraldarius was clearly on death's door. 

The wound on his chest was a horrifying sight to behold. Crudely hidden behind bandages saturated in Felix's blood, the magical scar had ripped right over his heart.  
It was a miracle that the Blue Lions had got him this far. Sylvain and Dimitri wore grim expressions as they held the boy, one arm over each of their shoulders. He lacked the strength to stand on his own, Manuela wasn't even confident that he was fully conscious. Mercedes was holding the door open that Dimitri had kicked to allow them to enter, and it seemed as though the rest of the Blue Lions were missing, perhaps held back in the courtyard? There was no sign of Hanneman or Byleth either so both must have been with the students.

While it was a ghastly sight, Manuela was no stranger to gruesome injury and swift treatment.  
"The bed on the right." She spoke quickly and plainly, Dimitri nodding at the instruction as the two students guided their friend to the bed and laid him down slowly, grunts and groans of pain escaping his lips. Sylvain looked particularly dismayed at each note of pain Felix produced, gritting his teeth and turning to face the window. Mercedes reached out weakly to support her classmate, interrupted as another order came from the professor.

"Mercedes, prepare me some fresh bandages, would you, dear?" Manuela had set to work immediately, stripping the wound of it's dirty dressing, trying her best to assess the damage done.  
"Dimitri, you had best take Sylvain and return to your classmates." She didn't look up as she worked, Dimitri was quietly thankful they had such a skilled physician to return to. "I'll send word once I have anything. I trust I can count on your help here, Mercedes?"  
The girl offered little more than a wordless hum of acknowledgement and a nod as she set to work too, receiving a nod of thanks and a smile from Manuela. 

Dimitri moved to put a hand on his classmate's shoulder, nervously stopping short. He knew how much Felix meant to Sylvain, even if he wouldn't say it aloud himself.  
"Come, Sylvain." The prince murmured. "We can do little for Felix here, we can return later."  
Not offering any kind of response, the boy turned and strode out of the infirmary. Dimitri sighed and cast his eyes downward, following suit at a more regular pace, not trying to flag him down. Felix's wounds troubled him greatly, but they were clearly having far more of an impact on Sylvain. He found Ingrid just outside the door, Sylvain having stormed past her as well. It was so strange to see her wearing such a look of concern for the both of the boys, her usual harsh and no-nonsense demeanour worn down by the emotion of the day's mission.   
Dimitri smiled weakly before following after Sylvain, his thoughts interrupted by a supportive hand giving him a squeeze on the shoulder, one that trembled ever so slightly in it's own regard. He patted Ingrid's hand with his own in the only sign of solidarity that he could muster as they made their way back toward the courtyard in silence.

\---

The buzz of voices and excitement down by the front gates of Garreg Mach Monastery was at a predictable high, the merchants had seen the students rush back with their wounded colleague before being moved aside by a fresh squad of guard reinforcements. Some were very loudly pointing out how the crown prince of the Kingdom of Faerghus had been among them, stirring rumour and debate as the church's forces fought valiantly to disperse the crowds.

The remaining students who had not been alongside those who ferried Felix to the infirmary were whisked away to the Blue Lion's room at the officer's academy under the close watch of the Knights of Seiros, bringing them right in the line of sight of many other, very concerned looking students. Lysithea turned to Hilda in bewilderment, the older girl biting her lip at the sight of so few of the Blue Lion's being escorted through the grounds under guard before rushing off to fetch Claude. Whatever the circumstances for these events, they couldn't be good news.

The door to the room was closed as the few remaining were told to stay put until their professors returned.   
Ashe, still rather pale looking and nursing his wounds, waved off any attempt to be taken to the infirmary, well aware of the monumental task Manuela had ahead of her.   
Dedue looked uncomfortable, granted he wasn't within direct vision of Dimitri and that was usually more than enough, but it was clear the events weighed heavily on him. 

And then there was Annette.

Dedue's face softened as he looked down at the girl, not quite sure what to do. Despite her earlier outburst at the camp, the girl had been stone faced since they departed for the monastery. She never took her eyes off of the horse that ferried Felix on the long journey home. She hadn't stopped to even wipe the tears from her face, her eyes bloodshot and raw, slumped forward in one of the chairs. She was just staring at the wall before her, eyes glazed over, clearly a prisoner of her own thoughts. Dedue pulled up a chair beside her, his enormous frame looking ridiculous hunched over to meet the stare of the much smaller girl, but he didn't care.  
"Annette. What troubles you?"  
As ever, he was a man of simple, clear cut words, but his intonation was still soft and welcoming. Even in the face of what had transpired on their mission and the strange circumstances surrounding the mage, she was still his teammate, still a friend.

In reality, her mind still raced with questions. There was no doubt in her mind that she had felt was something real. Something visceral and undeniable. The tightness of her chest was accompanied by the ghost of some scar she had never received, one that led to her, 'death'. Yet here she was. Attempting to cast her mind back, it felt as though the day had started as usual, they had departed in such high spirits, as usual. She'd even started to think up a forest critter song as they'd walked, not that she would have shared it with the others.  
The longer they stayed in that clearing, the more the sensation of fear escalated, the thought becoming crystal clear in her mind.

Annette looked up at Dedue with a frown. It was rare to see him look so genuinely concerned, and she was thankful to have seen him so capable of emotion, but she was also convinced that she didn't deserve it.  
She rubbed her eyes, suddenly aware in the quiet of the officer's academy of just how tired she was.  
"I'm sorry, Dedue. I don't know." Annette dodged the question, her worn out throat reducing her volume to little more than a painful croak. Mercie would already think she was insane, would know to hold her accountable for her weakness of mind leading to the eventual death of their friend. She didn't need more people being aware of it, not yet. Goddess, was she truly losing her mind?  
Dedue nodded and sat back with a sigh, not leaving her side despite her denial. 

Ashe wore a grim expression, perched on a table near the entrance. He wanted to make his way over too but was more than a little concerned that he couldn't even make the trip across the room without collapsing at this point. He tried to make sense of the things that Annette had told Mercedes. She had foreseen her own death, Ashe would have ranked a vision from the Goddess as some form of holy gift, something to be cherished and shared with the people. Annette's experience was some kind of grim curse. The thought that she could feel her own body burning to death like some horrifying nightmare even as she sat awake... but her outburst came at a cost, not that it was her fault of course!

The sound of the door opening caught his attention, his heart sinking as Sylvain entered alone. Ashe couldn't even grab the red headed boy's attention as he rather violently pulled a stool around in front of Annette and slammed it on the cobbled floor. The reverberation occupied the silence, Dedue narrowing his eyes and sitting up in his seat, ready to intervene in any form of Sylvain outburst.  
They remained in silence for a few moments longer, Sylvain staring into her face with a cold sneer, Annette unable to even look him in the eye.

"What did you think you were doing?" He snapped at the girl, shrugging his shoulders. They sagged after a few more moments of silence, shaking his head.  
"You can't even answer me, huh? You sure were good at talking when you were bawling your eyes out to Mercedes at the campsite." Annette's face twitched, trying to turn away from Sylvain's onslaught.  
"You might have just killed Felix and you've got nothing to say?" The words thundered from Sylvain as he rose to his feet, his limited patience already clearly spent. Annette flinched away while Dedue rose up to his full height to oppose the far smaller boy.  
"Be calm, Sylvain." He boomed. "All is not lost."  
Sylvain looked up at Dedue like he was speaking to a village idiot. His brow furrowed in pure confusion at the request to stand down, his hands gesturing wildly as he stammered, trying to gain some traction in his own thoughts.  
"And we're all defending her suddenly? Is that what we're doing?" He shot a glance to Ashe, barely able to stand of his own power at this point. "You too? Think sacrificing Felix is a good balance for having a real good cry on the battlefield?"

"That's quite enough Sylvain." Dimitri's voice rang out over the room, attempting to put a pin in the argument. He and Ingrid had only just found their way back to the room, both looking just as haggard as the other students.  
Dimitri was surprised when Sylvain mustered laughter in response to his statement.  
"So that's it? I can't say what we're all thinking?" He looked to every face in the room, most displaying a look of utter defeat, "You all think it, you all want to know why Annette screwed up so bad! Why Felix is lying in that infirmary instead of her!"   
Dimitri couldn't muster a retort of his own fast enough, he may have been a better orator than Sylvain, but the boy's quick thinking even through all this stress left Dimitri at a massive disadvantage. The statement hung awkwardly in the air for a moment too long, the truth of it sinking in to the hearts of the Blue Lions like venom, as much as they all wanted to deny it.   
"Sylvain, that's..."  
"It's true, you know." Dimitri winced as his reply was interrupted by the cracking, rasping rebuttal of Annette.  
"Don't deny it. I know it's true. Even I want to know why." The girl whimpered, shaking her head weakly as she rose to her feet. 

Ingrid moved over to her and tried to lend a shaky hand of support, Annette only brushing it off. Ingrid didn't fight her on it, moving away, crestfallen, another tacit approval for Annette's failures in her own mind. Dedue moved back with her, as Ingrid tried her best to hold back her tears. Frustration at Felix's injuries, and doubly so from the group's falling apart was really taking it's toll on her.

"It's my fault Felix is injured. That Felix is..." Annette swallowed hard, the shooting pain not aided by the enormous lump in her throat. "That Felix is dying."  
Sylvain was right. She was a danger. What if she had another one of those visions again? Clearly it had become impossible to control herself in the face of her fears, and she couldn't put the Lions through that again. It was bad enough hurting Felix, what if she killed Dimitri, or Mercie? Her hands began to tremble alongside her rasping, inconsistent breaths.  
"It's my fault." She muttered quietly. Ashe tried to speak up as the familiar sight of Annette's quickening breathing became apparent. The girl stumbled as her breathing became laboured, leaning on the table before her with a heavy crash, sending supplies and writing equipment clattering to the floor much to the shock of her assembled classmates. Ashe tried to lever himself off the table, to warn the others that this was how it all began, but given his physical and emotion exhaustion he couldn't even manage that, quietly cursing his own weakness as he was forced to look on hopelessly.

"It's my fault!" Annette sobbed. "My fault!" She was visibly trembling, her voice becoming more shrill and desperate. Even Sylvain's face was starting to fall into one of concern and confusion as Annette's condition began to deteriorate rapidly. Dimitri strode across the room, composure vanishing to nothing as he tried to get close to Annette.   
"Stay away!" She shrieked, swinging a fist wildly toward him. His eyes shot wide in terror, Annette looking into them at that brief moment. It didn't matter that in reality Dimitri was scared for her, worried about another of his friends, clearly under some immeasurable stress that he couldn't solve.   
To her, he was scared of her. What she might do, who she might kill next. The dizziness began to overtake her, vision swimming as her legs trembled.

"It's my fault! I did it! I..." She couldn't breathe. She coughed and spluttered, arms too weak to support her. She slipped on the stone, knees buckling as Ingrid and Dedue leapt forward again, just about catching her as she sunk to her knees.  
"No, please!" Annette sobbed weakly. Pulling against the pair with the limited strength she could muster. Ingrid sobbed loudly at the sight, unable to hide it any more and covering her mouth with a hand, trying to avert her eyes as she held Annette. Sylvain moved to help her, mouth agape in a silent remorse, unable to believe what he was seeing.  
"Don't touch me!" The girl shrieked, afraid of whatever curse she bore and what it would do to her friends, tears streaming from bloodshot eyes. She looked up at Dimitri. Her crown prince. The man whose childhood friend she had killed. The concern was still visible in his eyes. The fear. His disappointment in her. He must have wanted her dead, it was only fair, wasn't it?  
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It should have been me! Why wasn't it me?"

Annette leapt toward Dimitri, the sudden strength behind her movement taking Dedue and Ingrid by surprise. Her hands locked around the sabre he carried on his belt as the cries of distress rang out of the room.

\---

"So what, Dimtri's little gang of misfit kids are becoming wanted criminals without us realising? A full escort from the guard, Hilda, really?" Claude teased his classmate, mostly just to release some of his own nerves about the topic as Hilda rolled her eyes with a groan.  
"Come on, this is clearly important!" One of the girl's twin tails whipped him in the face as she flicked her head back to their direction of travel, already tired of his antics.   
"I promise, I'll demand proper compensation for such an act of war, Lady Goneril." He smirked.  
"You deserved that for not taking this seriously, you big..."

A shrill bloodcurdling scream shook both of them to silence, followed by another, and another. Claude took the initiative to dart around the corner to the officer's academy grounds. Hilda caught up just in time to hear her leader's question as he shook his head in disbelief.  
"What is... going on?"   
It was rare that Claude was stunned to even near silence, but the sight before him was something he would never have expected. 

The doors to the Blue Lion classroom hung open, flanked by multiple inquisitive students who were just as enthralled by the display before them as Claude. Two of the larger guards were dragging a student away from the doors, as she screamed her throat raw. A rather delicate looking girl with a shock of ginger hair, eyes puffy and red. Everything about her looked dishevelled, her screaming was near incomprehensible as she tried in vain to shake off the iron grip of the guard, but nonetheless she shouted back to the Blue Lions.  
"I'm sorry! I need to pay for what I've done! It should have been me! Take me instead! Please!"  
Her shouting was finally muffled by the heavy doors of the monastery swinging shut, a stunned silence falling over the courtyard.  
"Annette..." Hilda murmured, hand covering her mouth in shock. The wild look in Annette's eyes, the conviction that she screamed with, the absolute desperation in her every move. To see the girl who was always so chipper, so bright and promising and ready to help with anything reduced to such a desperate state. Hilda could barely compute what must have transpired.

Another voice rang out over the courtyard, trying to maintain some kind of order.  
"Move away! Return to your dorms, there's nothing more to see here!" The authoritarian tone of Edelgard was music to Claude's ears for once in his life, maintaining some sense of normality in this chaos. He gave Hilda a supportive pat on the shoulder.  
"I'll catch up with you later, alright? I better help the princess here disperse some of the crowds."  
Hilda nodded weakly before turning to return to the dorms for the time being, dumbfounded by the display.

Claude jogged over to Edelgard, the royal highness herself looking a little rattled, and helped to move some of the students along, but more importantly to him he was able to steal a glance at the inside of the Blue Lion classroom.

The group were deathly silent.  
Felix was mysteriously missing, though it would answer the merchant's claims that a young lord was mortally wounded in a battle. So it wasn't just useless idle chatter after all...  
Ashe was still perched on the table, nursing his wounds with a look of pure defeat marring his features.  
Ingrid had sat down on one of the stools, head in her hands, trying to compose herself, not looking to any of the others and hiding her teary eyes.  
Sylvain ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head regretfully before slumping down in a seat next to Ingrid.  
Dedue stood at his rightful place beside his prince, his usual stoic demeanour interrupted by his furrowed brow.

Dimitri himself meanwhile sat, motionless, on a table near the doorway. He did little but to stare straight ahead, clearly lost in thought as he tried to keep a straight face. The young regent didn't want to assume anything that was running through the prince's mind, but his eyes betrayed his true feelings of anxiety. Claude followed the prince's eye-line to a weapon on the stone floor, a rather regal looking sabre. The silver sheen of the blade was tarnished by blood. Not much, but more than enough to have left a mark. He must not have noticed the wound on Annette in the struggle with the guards...

Claude's eyes narrowed as he pulled the doors shut without a word, leaving the Blue Lions in contemplative silence, none able to muster the energy to even offer a single word of a rallying cry, after all, that was Annette's forte.  
They all sorely felt the absence of two of their best and brightest.


	3. Chapter 3

"Annette Fantine Dominic..."  
Lady Rhea narrowed her gaze for a few moments, glancing toward the fatigued looking figure of Gilbert stood at a post near the doorway before continuing with a sigh, addressing the other staff present at the faculty meeting.  
"What of her condition? I have been told that the students observed her having some sort of breakdown at the officer's academy this afternoon. Is there truth to this claim?"   
"Yes, Lady Rhea." Seteth answered quickly, Manuela noted how his usual, 'all business all the time', demeanour had returned, even when talking about personal tragedies involving the students. Business as usual she supposed. It was almost as though Rhea immediately caught on to her disapproval.  
"Tell me, Professor Manuela," the archbishop levelled a question straight at the physician, calculating but predictably warm as usual, "How are both of the students doing?"

Manuela let out a sigh, crossing her arms.  
"I only wish I could bring you better news." Byleth and Hanneman exchanged worried glances as Manuela began.  
"Felix's wound is treatable in the long term, but it's all a question of if the boy pulls through. While I don't doubt his stubbornness, I dread to think what kind of magic scarred him in such a substantial way. It's all a question of if he makes it through the night, it will be touch and go until then." She hated being the bearer of such morbid news, but nothing could be done about it, she just had to try her best to keep the boy going. He was a fighter after all, but it didn't stop her being more than a little concerned.  
"And then there's the matter of... Annette. I felt so sorry for the girl, she was absolutely beside herself." Manuela lamented, rubbing her eyes for a moment before looking back to Rhea. "I had to have the girl sedated. There was no calming her down."

Byleth hung her head for a moment, a pang of guilt ripping through her. Rhea's eyes fell on her form curiously.  
"Byleth, Hanneman... do you blame yourselves for this occurrence?" Rhea smiled warmly at them, "The scouts that Shamir sent back with you spoke so plainly that the attack was entirely out of your control, you did well to bring any of the students back with you at all, let alone all of them." Byleth tried to steady herself, receiving a further chide from her mental passenger for her lack of composure.  
"Thank you, Lady Rhea." Hanneman grumbled, clearly not quite believing the reassurance himself, gesturing for Manuela to finish her report. She nodded thankfully and continued.

"The guard brought her to me after an incident in the Blue Lion classroom. Her hand was quite badly cut, seemingly from some kind of self inflicted wound. Be it accidental from her lack of awareness or entirely purposeful, I can't say with certainty and would not care to speculate."  
"I was left with no choice but to sedate the poor girl for her own safety, and for that of her classmates. She's currently sleeping in an unused knight's quarters nearby the infirmary. I thought it unwise to leave her alongside Felix, given her erratic behaviour." The healer ended her story by shaking her head with a groan of frustration.  
"Such promising young lives, already dealing with such horrible damage."

"And that's precisely why I must rely on your at this time of crisis, Professor Manuela." Rhea gave the woman an encouraging smile, taking her hands in her own and giving a gentle squeeze. "Please continue to look after Felix. Your passion for our student's lives will see him through, of that I have no doubt. We will deal with Annette as a loving an welcoming community."  
Manuela nodded slowly, moving her hands away with a weak but appreciative smile.   
"I promise that I'll do my best, Lady Rhea, but one more thing about this all concerns me that I hope you can answer."  
Rhea cocked her head inquisitively, unsure of the lengths she would truly be helpful from a medical standpoint.  
"I dismissed Mercedes after Annette's arrival, I thought the poor girl could do with some rest what with the turmoil sweeping all around her." Manuela frowned, seemingly having difficulty picking her words.  
"She was quite... adamant. That young Annette was troubled by some vision from the Goddess."  
The slightest twinge rippled across Rhea's brow as she retained her composure, far more skilfully than Seteth who looked aghast, continuing to listen intently.  
"Mercedes claimed that Annette saw a vision of her own death, that she was paralysed in utter fear before Felix was able to come to her aid, regrettably taking the full brunt of an attack aimed at her. But that's really not something I can say I've ever heard an account of..." The songstress shook her head, eyes half lidded in thought as Lady Rhea took over, 

"Until we have more information, we should not spread speculation of this nature. It would not do to raise undue concern with all of our students, as well as the wider community visiting the monastery." Rhea's voice was still warm and caring, but something in her intonation came across as more firm than it had been at the start of the conversation. Byleth shot at a glance at the look of determination in the woman's eyes. Was it truly all for the well-being of the students? Jeralt had been clear about his stance on the archbishop and Byleth couldn't deny that it had raised some questions of her own.  
"For now, please continue to care for the students, and quell any rumours spreading about their conditions." She bowed slightly to the assembled staff before making her way to her office, leaving Seteth to dispense with the regular formalities.

"I expect a report from yourself, Professor Hanneman, as per the usual. Professor Byleth and I will discuss this with the other house leaders so that they can guide their students at this time of uncertainty. Classes will be dismissed for the next few days to allow us to keep Manuela's time well spent."

\---

Shortly after the rabble had been dispersed from the officer's academy, the Blue Lions were asked to return to their respective dorms. This time they were only accompanied by a stern but seemingly concerned Seteth rather than a contingent of guards to keep their profile a little lower.

The rest of the day ebbed away in relative silence. Claude and Edelgard were asked to brief their houses on the developments, and to promote discretion when it came to rumour mongering about the Blue Lions. Nonetheless a buzz very quickly circulated, aided by the complete absence of any house members in the evening's activities. The day gave way to the dusk, as rain began to fall, peppering the windows of the dormitories and bringing an easy silence over the deserted monastery grounds.

Ingrid hadn't changed out of her uniform or made an attempt to bathe since returning from the battle and the subsequent outbursts, she couldn't muster the willpower to do anything other than sit in her room. It was there, some hours later, that she heard a rather feeble knock at the door. For a few moments she mulled over the idea of not answering, she really wasn't sure that she could entertain the idea of a guest right now. Chances are it could have been a nosy student just looking to gain a scoop of insight about Annette and Felix, and that was a conversation she just couldn't face.  
The knock came again, far more hesitantly, trailing off into little more than a tap. Ingrid cleared her throat and rose to her feet, straightening her uniform as she moved to answer the door. A knock that feeble could be poor Marianne, and she'd probably need more consoling than the Blue Lions did if there was something stressful happening...

The door swung open, Ingrid letting out a gasp of surprise.   
"Sylvain?" She questioned, holding the door mostly closed. "What are you doing out? Seteth was pretty clear that he wanted us to keep away from students for now."  
He rubbed at the back of his head, eyes clearly unfocused as he looked for some excuse.  
"Well I... needed a walk. So I just thought I'd seek some counsel from a neighbour while I was at it."  
Ingrid narrowed her eyes, lips pursed disapprovingly. "Counsel from a neighbour? Who's bunked all the way on the other side of the building to yourself? On an innocent walk you just happened to stroll by every other room?"  
"Well it's... raining. I couldn't just go outside or..." Sylvain met her gaze for the first time since he'd arrived, the flash of grief on his face enough to make her reconsider her stance. As much as she didn't want to risk getting into some argument with her friend, she didn't want to be alone either.  
"Can I talk to you? Please?" His plea sounded genuine. A true rarity for Sylvain, but not something she was going to pick him up on for now.  
Her face softened as she allowed the door to swing open, gesturing to the inside with a flash of a forced smile. Sylvain quietly thanked her and made his way inside. 

Minutes went by as they sat in silence. Sylvain sat in the chair by Ingrid's desk, leaning his chin in his hands as he sat forward and occasional sigh escaping his nostrils. Ingrid perched on the bed, idly tugging the sheets between her fingers and listening to the drumming rainfall, unsure of how to begin any form of dialogue right now.  
Sylvain gave it his best shot instead.  
"I really messed that up."  
The boy shook his head, his fists moving to clench while resting on his thighs.   
"I was just so... angry."  
"Angry at Annette?" Ingrid questioned, quietly, glancing up at him.  
"No. Not just at Annette. At Felix too." Sylvain let out a short laugh. "What a terrible thing to say, blaming a dying friend for his own injuries. But he knows how to take care of himself. What possessed him to do that? What possessed Annette to just stand there?"  
Ingrid winced as his voice raised in anger and anguish, knuckles white as his frustration mounted. Sylvain let out a sigh as he stammered to apologise with a more measured tone.  
"I'm sorry, Ingrid, I'm just too worked up right now. Same as I was in the classroom with Annette."  
"No, it's fine. I understand." She nodded. Allowing a few more moments to pass.

"I was thinking the same thing." She admitted. "You know, why Annette was so worked up. Why Felix took such a substantial hit for her. I know Dimitri must be thinking the same too."  
She glowered at Sylvain, albeit with less conviction than her usual attempts.   
"You definitely owe Dimitri an apology for putting him on the spot like that with Annette. You've just got to... slow down."  
Sylvain nodded, offering no words as he rubbed his temple. Ingrid took the chance to get some of her own concerns off of her chest.  
"You weren't wrong to ask the questions that you did. We all want those answers, of course we do. But there's something going on here that none of us understand."   
She shuffled forward on the bed, trying to meet Sylvain's eyes.  
"For now we have to believe in Felix. He might act like an idiot sometimes but we know he's not. He must have had his reasons for helping Annette, and we have to respect them."

Sylvain looked to his old friend with a concern she didn't see often. "So what about Annette?"  
Ingrid closed her eyes as she thought about her reply, trying to dismiss the image of the girl lunging at Dimitri and messily pulling the sabre from his belt, scrambling with the blade as it clattered against the cobbled floor. An involuntary shudder raised the hairs on the back of her neck as she swallowed hard.

"I have no idea." She admitted under her breath, a rather defeatist attitude for the young knight but not one that Sylvain could even hope to dispute, sitting in hopeless silence.  
"Normally you'd be the one to throw yourself headlong into danger, you know? I just don't understand, Sylvain, first Glenn, and now..." Ingrid couldn't finish her thought, tears beginning to well in her eyes. Her shoulders shuddered as she tried to suppress her sobs, feeling a gentle hand followed by another presence on the bed.  
"It's alright." Sylvain's voice sounded strained, choked almost. Ingrid turned in surprise looking up at his own puffy red eyes, tears already rolling down his cheeks as he smiled weakly. "Let it out."

The two remained in each other's presence for most of the night. Though they spoke very few more words, they both appreciated the company, some precious little solace as they wept for their injured friend.

\---

The sound of the rain beating against the window was punctuated by a forlorn sigh... It must have been professor Manuela. He heard the curtains being drawn as the professor stood up, her heels purposefully clacking against the floor as she tended to her duties.  
Why was it so hard to open his eyes? He tried to speak, resulting in little more than a formless whisper.   
Come to think of it, he couldn't move a muscle either. Try as he might his body refused to listen to a single command. He couldn't remember ever feeling to exhausted in his entire life. Even his lungs burned with each breath he tried to take.  
His eyes cracked open a little, his pupils hazy and unfocused, the room little more than a smear of light and shade, a human-looking outline stood preparing something from a bottle. With some effort, he managed to form a word, disappointed at how mewling and weak he truly sounded.  
"Professor?" 

Manuela turned to the source of the voice in surprise.  
"Felix?" She murmured. Quickly moving to take a seat on a stool near his bed.   
"Don't try to talk now, dear, you're in terribly bad shape."  
The woman laid a hand on his own, motionless in the bed with a warm smile. He couldn't make out the details of her face, but for a change it felt comforting to have someone so close, the warmth of her hand a welcome sensation against the chill of his own.  
"The best thing you can try to do is get some rest. You're lucky to still be with us at all. I'll prepare you a tonic to help you sleep, alright?"  
She was taken aback by the speed of his awakening. Felix was a stubborn kid for sure, but this was entirely unexpected. It brought her slightly more to ease to know that he was truly such a fighter both on the field and in her recovery beds. The sound of the rain was the only background noise as she tried to assess his physical condition, unchanged after only a few short hours, but she just wanted to be sure.  
With a supportive pat to his hand, she stood up to prepare the tonic.

"...ette..."   
She turned her head back to Felix, his eyelids sagging, another sound escaping his lips as she shook her head.  
"Come now, Felix, even as strong as you are it's in your best interest not to..."  
"Annette..."  
The clicking of Manuela's heels came to an abrupt halt, smile fading as her brow furrowed. She wasn't aware of the full story by any means, she had yet to have any access to Hanneman's report and Mercedes had been under a great deal of stress when recounting the details she knew. But Felix truly had only been acting to protect the girl? She sat back down next to him, his eyes clearly struggling to focus on her. Her brow twitched.  
"The young Miss Fantine Dominic is fine." The white lie slipped out effortlessly. She needed to give Felix only the most bare details in his condition. Annette might have been physically fine, likely due to his efforts, but her mental state was another question altogether. It did bring her some dread to think of what could have happened had the same injury befallen the far smaller girl. Annette was hardly a physical powerhouse for her age. Felix's head, meanwhile, rolled back onto the pillow. A smile crept onto his lips as his eyes became too heavy to fight.  
"Good."  
His breathing slowed as he slipped back in unconscious almost immediately. Manuela taken aback by the whole episode, rising to her feet slowly, her understanding of the events worming their way through her mind. 

The physician elected to stand watch over his bedside for far longer than her usual shift in case the boy stirred again. It turned out to be a fruitless endeavour but she didn't mind, preferring to err on the side of caution.  
She checked in on her other patient before retiring for the night, the sight within as she cracked the door open causing her heart to flutter almost immediately.  
Annette was still lying unconscious in the bed while Mercedes, head flopped forward, hair sticking messily to her face and body slumped back in her chair, had clearly succumbed to her exhaustion while watching over her friend. She still clutched Annette's uninjured hand in her own, and the tear marks on her cheeks were clearly visible below her puffy eyes.  
Giving Mercedes a silent and gentle shake of the shoulder, the girl sat bolt upright, turning to the professor with surprise and remembering to wipe her eyes. Her usual smile returned, Manuela suddenly painfully aware of how easy it was for Mercedes to put on a brave face even when she clearly didn't mean it. The professor gestured to the door, to which Mercedes politely declined, wiping the strands of hair from her face as she adjusted her position, electing to stay by Annette's side as the night dragged onward.

Manuela decided to leave the two be for the time being other than her slight interference, retiring to her room with a stiff drink and a certain melancholy hanging over her. It still brought a tear to her eye to see such damage and heartache, even if she had resolved to tirelessly repair it.


	4. Chapter 4

The previous night's rain had unfortunately stuck around to see out the dawn. An unfortunately dreary day descended on Garreg Mach, still normal enough for most but for the Blue Lions just another reflection of their discontent. 

Hilda spied Claude sitting in the dining hall at breakfast, making her way over.  
"Good morning!" She chirped brightly, an act that would likely fool anyone to her actual dour mood. With the exception of Claude, of course.  
"G'morning." He smiled up in return as she descended gracefully into her seat, as usual. "How are you doing?"  
Hilda flashed him a smile, "I'm fine, just... curious, I guess."  
Claude nodded, rubbing his chin.  
"I can't blame you, I'm really feeling that too."  
They continued to eat in silence for a few moments, just appearing to be enjoying the company before Claude broke the silence, the words escaping his lips subtly as he dabbed at his mouth with a handkerchief.  
"No sign of Annette and Felix?"  
"Nothing. Not a peep." The girl groaned, tapping her silverware off the table nervously.   
Claude nodded. "Mercedes came back alone from the general direction of the infirmary last night. I guess the doc's been busy too." 

"Oh, really?"  
A sudden interruption caused the two of them to flinch, the figure appearing from the shade behind one of the room's supporting pillars. His emergence from the shadows was all too natural, Claude still had a hunch he was some creature of the night.  
"Perhaps I am mistaken, but I thought we were all informed to keep such pointless chatter to a minimum, hmm?" The cold and calculating voice of Hubert received a warm smile from Claude as he turned to face the interloper.  
"And I was under the impression that even the little spymaster general of the Adrestian Empire respected the age old sanctity of breakfast time?"  
Hubert must have been in a good mood, his thin lips cracking a smile at Claude's joke.   
"Don't say I didn't warn you. As a house leader you should surely show more tact as an example for your fellow students to follow in such uncertain times. Don't blame me if such idle rumour milling comes back to bite you. Good day, Claude, Hilda."   
Hilda pouted as Hubert made his way back over to Edelgard sat a distant table, who turned to meet him as he approached.

"Think he knows any more than us?" Hilda questioned, not taking her eyes off of him for a second.  
"I think it was a rather thinly veiled threat, even for Hubert, I'd wager the race is on." Claude cocked his head, turning back to Hilda and his breakfast with his trademark smirk. "And since when did the Alliance cede so easily to Imperial demands anyway?"

"Any news?" Edelgard's voice rung with more concern than Hubert had imagined it would. He brushed off the observation, it was neither the time or the place for such trivial things to be addressed.  
"Claude and Hilda seem to know about as much as we do. I believe it would be safe to assume that the faculty is withholding as much information as possible until a full report can first be given to Duke Fraldarius about his son's condition." Hubert narrowed his eyes as Edelgard absently pushed the remainder of her breakfast on her plate before continuing, coming to the point he thought she would be most interested in.  
"And I'm afraid I've had no information on the dark mage whom had been inside the territory of House Arundel and involved in the skirmish. As far as I understand he denies all understanding of the event or it's players... as per usual."  
Edelgard nodded.  
"Thank you, Hubert. I trust you fully in this endeavour." She collected her things quickly, scooping up her plate to return it to the kitchen. "Alert me at once of any developments you deem appropriate."  
"Of course, Lady Edelgard. By your leave." He gave a courteous nod, moving swiftly off to return to his duties. Edelgard let out a sigh, troubled by the ill omen the dark mage had wrought, doubly so from those lands in the Empire.

\---

The soft sound of a door closing roused Annette from her slumber. Her eyes still felt heavy, and as she prised them open even the dim light sunlight through the curtains sent sharp currents shooting through her brain. She screwed her eyes shut, jaw clenched as she clutched at her head with both hands waiting for the agony to subside.   
Slowly, Annette turned to face away from the window, hiding her face beneath the sheets and experimentally cracking open one eye. The ambient light of the room still stung a little, but it was far less intense.   
These weren't her sheets, were they? She ran a curious hand over the material, she didn't remember a duvet this thick in her room. Feeling the sensation of fabric on fabric as she probed, she stopped and looked to her own hand curiously to find it wrapped in a bandage. It was mostly clean but still carried some trace of a wound beneath. Her gasp of horror brought another wince of pain, but she could ignore it for the time being. Dimitri's sabre. What in the world had she been thinking?

Fumbling beneath the sheets, Annette removed the bandage from her hand. The damage to her palm was superficial at worst. Flexing her fingers didn't bring her any pain or discomfort. She remembered the blood though. The look of terror on Dimitri's face as he tried to snatch it back. That was the last thing she could remember with any clarity. The Blue Lions looking dismayed, flashes of the monastery, feeling helpless as she was dragged away.

The events in the classroom weighed heavily on her mind, but she finally felt able to relax her body. The sedative hadn't given her much of a choice in any case, but everything had moved so fast since... Her body shot bolt upright, the pain coursing through her head not enough to hold her down as she surveyed the room properly for the first time. Where was Felix? This wasn't the infirmary. Where was he?  
Launching the covers off of herself and leaping from the bed, she nearly ended up crashing straight back down on top of it. Blood rushed to her already pounding head as she got up too fast, her vision swimming, but she couldn't rest right now. Whoever had set her up in the room had left her uniform on, only her boots had really been removed, tucked neatly next to the bed. Annette didn't devote the time or the care to fetching them, stumbling over to the exit. Her shoulder crashed rather painfully into the stonework as she leveraged herself there to yank the heavy wooden door open. Her arms were barely obeying her commands, a sense of overwhelming fatigue plaguing her as she slipped out into the hall unsteadily.   
Annette was certain that she'd been somewhere around here before, this area of the monastery certainly wasn't completely unfamiliar. In her daze however it was quite difficult to know that for sure. Clutching the walls as she moved, the girl hobbled in the direction she believed the infirmary to be in. The pain was becoming too much, her head throbbing as her pounding heart kept the blood and adrenaline coursing through her, but she had to know. She had to see if he was alright. She had to...   
Her knees buckled beneath her, sinking to the ground with a groan of frustration. She was exhausted. The rush of emotion she'd experienced was more than enough to drain her, combined with her not having eaten anything in nearly a whole day.

Voices were raised in the corridor behind her, but she paid them no mind. She tried her best to crawl her way in the direction she had chosen before a yelp of shock from right behind her drew her attention.  
"Annie! Where are you going? Are you..." Mercedes rushed to the girl, breathless from her rising panic at having somehow misplaced a sleeping girl, kneeling next to Annette.  
"Are you alright? Speak to me, Annie, what are you doing out of your room?"   
Annette's groaned in effort as she tried to push back against the wall and pull herself to her feet to no avail, instead flopping onto her behind as Annette cried out again, concerned that she'd hurt herself. The younger girl looked up at Mercedes with the closest thing to a twinkle in her eye she could muster, reaching out and taking hold of her friend's cheek.  
"Mercie..." She smiled as Mercedes took a hold of the hand, still looking flustered and a little confused. Annette was just glad to see her, to know she wasn't alone right now, as much as she deserved to be.   
"Mercie, where's Felix? I have to find Felix. He made it didn't he?" The determination in her eyes was admirable given the circumstances, it sounded much more like the plucky girl that Mercedes had befriended. Right now though her attempts were just far more likely to do her lasting harm.  
Mercedes nodded nervously, not entirely sure how to dampen Annette's trailblazing.  
"Professor Manuela says that he's fine, Annie, we're just... not allowed to see him, alright?" Mercedes ran a hand through Annette's hair, mostly using it as an excuse to put a supportive hand between the solid brick wall and her stumbling friend's head as she bargained. "We have to be a little patient, but he's alive and well. Please come back to your room and we can talk?"  
Annette opened her mouth to protest as another two figures rounded the corner, eyes falling on the pair of girls with delight.

"Manuela, there she is! Such luck that she hadn't escaped to the grounds already."  
"Oh, shut your trap, I was the one who told you she couldn't have gone far, you old coot."  
Manuela rolled her eyes as she brushed past Hanneman, the professor straightening his coat with an indignant huff. He wasn't above carrying on this argument with Manuela but he supposed it could wait until a more appropriate time.  
The physician swiftly moved around to Annette, nodding to Mercedes. The pair scooped Annette up under the armpits as the girl began to flap in confusion.  
"No! Wait, b-but I was..!"  
"No buts!" Manuela interjected firmly, Annette's light and weak frame easy enough for the two to manoeuvre back down the hallway with relative ease, Hanneman moving aside with a relieved sigh.  
"I certainly don't want to go as far as literally locking you in that room, Annette, but it's imperative you don't go wandering around until you've got some strength back." Manuela gave her a worried smile, Annette still glancing around to find some escape, too weak to fight. She was still perfectly able to argue, however.  
"Forget about me, what about Felix? Is he alright?"   
Manuela chuckled, shaking her head with a smile.  
"I should have figured your concern for Felix was the reason you were so eager to escape. Not that you were heading in remotely the right direction..."  
Annette did feel a slight blush form on her cheeks as Manuela spoke.  
"In short, he'll pull through. We're not out of the woods yet but I'm confident in his ability to heal in the long term."  
Manuela groaned as she balanced Annette, awkwardly shoving the door to the room Annette had slept in open with her other shoulder.   
"And I won't have any of that, 'Forget about me', nonsense under my care." She huffed. "You're both my patients and you both deserve the best care I can provide."

The two women laid Annette down in the bed again, the girl's brow tightly knitted as she was tucked in to her plush prison against her will.  
"Mercedes, I need to fetch my supplies so that I can properly assess Annette, be a dear and wait here for me?" Manuela was already half way out of the door, leaving little room for debate, not that there would have been any. Mercedes sat down on a stool next to the bed, eagerly scooting it closer to the pillow a little more rapidly than the exhausted Annette was clearly comfortable with as her eyes shot wide.  
"Mercie! What..."  
Mercedes gently rested her forehead against Annette's own, eyes closed a deep exhale of satisfaction escaping her nose, lips curled into a smile. She just wanted to cherish this moment.  
"I was so worried I lost you, Annie."  
Annette's shocked expression melted away into a faint smile. That's right, Mercedes hadn't been there when it all went wrong in the classroom, she could only have found out about it all as events were winding down. Annette shared her friend's sentiment. She had been convinced that she shouldn't have made it either. There was something calming about having Mercie so close though. 

After a few moments more Mercedes pulled away, taking a hold of Annette's hands instead, being careful not to be too rough with her injured one. Annette kind of missed the warmth of her forehead already, looking to the gentle woman's face as it displayed a twinge of worry.  
"You've not had any more terrible dreams, have you, Annie?"  
She shook her head in response, trying to think as hard as she could. The sedative had knocked her out cold, all she remembered was suddenly waking up here with a headache.   
"No, not at all, Mercie, honest. But how long was I even asleep?"  
"Nearly a day." The admission made Annette's jaw drop.   
"A day?" She squealed, mind racing. "B-but, wasn't it my day to tend to the stables, I..."  
"Marianne very kindly offered to fill in, you know how much she loves spoiling Dorte." Mercedes chuckled.  
"Breakfast kitchen duty!" She spluttered, "That was this morning, right? You and me?"  
"They say that Alois himself offered to take up the role, I'm not entirely sure how such a feat turned out though." Her brow twitched as she looked into Annie's eyes with concern. "Annie, slow down, ok? There's a lot more people than just us as the monastery who are more than willing to help out. You need the rest, you understand that don't you?"

Annette slumped back in defeat. Ordinarily the offer of help with her chores wasn't something she would turn down. People were just trying to be helpful after all and she would certainly offer the same when she wasn't busy. Something about that approach right now felt different. Wrong. Everyone only ended up taking on those roles because she was such a burden, right? They wouldn't need to have done all that if she wasn't so... so stupid. So worthless. If it was her instead of Felix who...  
Her body tensed up, head pounding sharply again as she let out a pained groan through gritted teeth. Mercedes stood up in a panic, ready to shoot over to the nightstand to look for any of the medicine Manuela had left in the room as the pain subsided, the girl flopping back against the pillow as her muscles relaxed. She gave Mercedes a thin smile and a weak thumbs up.  
"I woke up with a headache like that I think it's just part of whatever happened." She chuckled nervously, as much as she wanted to reassure Mercedes, she was trying to talk herself into thinking nothing was wrong too.

Mercie nodded with a quiet, "Oh, okay!" Sinking back down on her stool slowly, not quite making eye contact as her hands clutched together and fidgeted. She took a deep breath before asking a question, one that seemed to be plaguing her.  
"Annie, what did you say to everyone in the classroom? To Dimitri? Nobody will tell me and I..." She bit her lip, finding it awkward to find the right phrasing. "I hoped you would want to talk about it?"

Annette winced as she looked at the worry on Mercedes' face. Only now was she really noticing the deep bags under her friend's eyes. Had she even slept a wink? It seemed none of the Blue Lions wanted her to panic and had withheld bits and pieces of the story, but they had left enough scrambled clues for Mercedes to have at least assembled most of it. Annette sighed as the thought back to the room. The words that had escaped her lips in a frenzy as she was dragged away, kicking and screaming. Her crushing despair that she had no control over betraying her darkest desire.

_"I need to pay for what I've done! It should have been me! Take me instead! Please!"_

Her blood ran cold. She had felt that low that she wanted to die, screamed it until her throat was raw, and she had believed it. That she was ready to die as penance for her crimes. How could she break that to her best friend?   
How could she tell her that the thought was still not entirely unwelcome?  
"Mercie..." Her words trailed off. She couldn't do it, she just didn't know how to articulate how she felt right now. She didn't want to hide from sweet, perfect Mercedes, but she was the only friend she had left right now. Her oldest friend. The only one that she hadn't scared away. It would be so easy to chase her away and she couldn't bear the thought of such crushing isolation.  
So instead, she sat in silence, cursing her weakness. She prayed quietly that Mercedes could forgive her for her silence, that they could carry on being friends despite everything if Mercedes didn't know how badly she had screwed everything up. 

The beautiful, loyal and unequivocal friend that was Mercedes didn't deserve a weight like Annette dragging her down.

The mood in the room was far different when Manuela returned only minutes after her departure. Annette and Mercedes sat in silence, each unable to convey their concerns to the other. Annette's downward gaze completely ignorant to Mercedes' attempts to catch her gaze, the woman looking crestfallen as a result.

Manuela furrowed her brow. It was too much to expect everything to go back to normal just like that, but it hadn't stopped her quietly hoping for as much. 

Her tests were simple, really. Nothing was wrong with her body except the obvious exhaustion. The aversion to the light and constant winces and involuntary spasms were hopefully just some sign of a severe headache, nothing that couldn't be resolved with sleep given no indication of head trauma. Manuela completed each stage as efficiently as possible.

"If you feel well enough, I would suggest taking a bath tomorrow but only under supervision on account of your physical weakness." The physician barely looked up as she messily scrawled some notes. They were legible to her, that was all that mattered.  
"Mercedes, could you fetch some changes of clothes for Annette? Especially something for her to wear to bed tonight, I'll change the sheets too."

Annette piped up nervously, the first words spoken since Manuela had entered.  
"Oh, so I. I can't go back to my dorm yet?"  
Manuela shook her head with an understanding smile.  
"I'm sorry, dear but I have to keep an eye on you here for now. Once you've gained some strength back I can safely discharge you back for some rest in the barracks but until then you're still my patient. And on that note actually I'll get some food sent to us from lunch..."

Manuela carried on making preparations, discussing some things with the guards outside the door and talking mostly to herself. Mercedes patted the back of Annette's hand gently.  
"It's ok, I'll spend the night here again, it's no trouble to me at all, Annie!"  
Her smile was genuine, exactly what Annette would have expected. It didn't stop her looking absolutely drained and exhausted in her own right.

_"She doesn't need to put herself out for someone as worthless as me."_

Annette winced again, giving Mercedes the most convincing smile she could given the constant feeling of needles piercing her skull and putting on her best, 'Normal Annette', impression, her trademark grin quickly spreading from ear to ear.  
"It's ok, you look like you've barely slept a wink, Mercie! You make sure you look after yourself tonight, alright? Professor Manuela will be around if I need help. You shouldn't think about me all the time."  
Mercedes giggled, "Oh, Annie, it's no trouble at all, I promise..."

"Please." 

Mercedes' stopped in her tracks as Annette interjected, sounding far more desperate this time. The smile on her lips was at complete odds with her demeanour. It certainly wasn't hard for Annette to notice.  
"I mean. Please, look after yourself, Mercie." She tried to correct herself, eyes elusive in their contact. Mercedes paused for a moment before shooting her another warm smile and a nod of understanding in return.  
"Ok! I'll do that." She gave Annie's hand a quick squeeze, before leaning down to give her a kiss on the forehead.  
"I'll pick up your clothes and then get some rest, if you're sure." Mercedes conceded, beginning to gather her own belongings. "I'll be back soon!"  
Annette offered a small, "Mhm!" of acknowledgement as Mercedes stepped outside. The fake smile plastered across Annette's face was the last thing she saw as she closed the door.

\---

Mercedes barely made it far enough from the earshot of Manuela and the guards as she let out a sob, covering her mouth as best she could while her shoulders shuddered.  
She leaned back against the wall, trying to take deep breaths as she wiped the pooling tears from her eyes.  
Why wasn't Annie being honest with her... why weren't any of the Blue Lions? Was what Annie said really that bad?

It was bad enough that all of this had happened at all, but what was done was done as far as Mercedes was concerned. They all needed to heal, to move on and do it together if they had to. Annette had told her to stay away for the night to rest up, and she didn't doubt that the girl was concerned for Mercedes' own health but, there was something more. A reason she hadn't revealed, one that she clearly didn't want or intend to.

Tears streaked her cheeks as she made her way out of the building and into the grounds, some students looking on in confusion as she hurried past. She couldn't bear the thought of poor Annie suffering in silence.

But what choice did she have?

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not entirely sure why I wanted poor Annette to suffer like this... but here we are.
> 
> I kinda like the idea of Divine Pulse not being a perfect science, especially being a power Byleth has limited direct control over.  
> I hope to post some more of this if there's any interest, I promise there will be less direct combat related angst in the later chapters... maybe.


End file.
